Closure

ABSTRACT

A hatch cover for ships includes a plurality of panels arranged in sets of two and together having a combined cross-sectional area at least equal to that of a hatch in the deck of a ship. Hinges hingedly connect the panels of each set and include a pair of proximal pins each provided on a laterally facing edge face of the respective panels, with a first roller and a smaller-diameter second roller being freely rotatably mounted on each pin and with the respective first rollers engaging guide rails extending along the hatch. At least one connecting lug connects the pins to thereby connect the two panels of each set with one another. The other pairs of panels are connected by analogous hinge arrangements. A pulley is located upwardly of the hatch spaced therefrom in a given direction normal to the pivot axes of the hinges. A rope is convoluted about the pulley and trained around the second rollers alternately below and above the same so that pull on the rope causes the panels to tilt upwardly and become located in adjacent vertical planes at one end of the hatch.

United States Patent [73] inventors Uwe Hanssen;

Achim Hildebrandt. Hamburg, Germany [21] Appl. No. 799,262 {22] Filed Feb. 14,1969 [45] Patented Jan. 26, 1971 [73] Assignee Blohm 8: Voss AG Hamburg, Germany [54] CLOSURE 10 Claims, 7 Drawing Figs.

[52] US. Cl 114/202, 160/ l 93 [51] B63b 19/18 [50] 114/202; 160/188, 193

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,753,828 7/1956 Mege 114/202 3,217,785 11/1965 Hamilton 160/188 Primary ExaminerAndrew H. Farrell All0rneyMichael S. Striker ABSTRACT: A hatch cover for ships includes a plurality of panels arranged in sets of two and together having a combined cross-sectional area at least equal to that of a hatch in the deck of a ship. Hinges hingedly connect the panels of each set and include a pair of proximal pins each provided on a laterally facing edge face of the respective panels, with a first roller and a smaller-diameter second roller being freely rotatably mounted on each pin and with the respective first rollers engaging guide rails extending along the hatch. At least one connecting lug connects the pins to thereby connect the two panels of each set with one another. The other pairs of panels are connected by analogous hinge arrangements. A pulley is located upwardly of the hatch spaced therefrom in a given direction normal to the pivot axes of the hinges. A rope is convoluted about the pulley and trained around the second rollers alternately below and above the same so that pull on the rope causes the panels to tilt upwardly and become located in adjacent vertical planes at one end ofthe hatch.

CLOSURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION of suitable hinges. In one embodiment of such a construction the individual cover members are supported at their hinges by rollers which engage the hatch coaming. The hatch members are movable between a closed position in which they all are located in one plane adjacent to one another and close the hatch opening, and an open position in which they are successively erected in pairs into an upright position by means of a lifting rope or the like which, after erecting the individual cover members, pulls them to one end of the hatch where they are arranged in a stack with each cover member located in a substantially vertical plane. This is accomplished by exerting pull on the rope which is inclined in direction upwardly towards the aforementioned one end of the hatch, with the result that the pair of cover members located closest to the aforementioned one end of the hatch is first lifted and folded by the rope until it reaches upright position and the two members of the pair are located in parallel vertical planes. Subsequently the next following pair is similarly folded, and so on until the hatch is entirely opened.

Unfortunately, while this approach is potentially very valuable the particular embodiment just mentioned suffers from various disadvantages. The various hinges, fittings, rollers and other elements which are used in connecting the individual cover members in this embodiment, and which are necessary for the movement of the cover members from closed to open position and vice versa, project in the closed position of the arrangement upwardly beyond the flat upper surface of the closure and thus impede the stowing of goods on the closed hatch closure. It is well known, of course, that many goods are stowed on deck of a ship or boat, either because they can not be accommodated in the hold because of their size or because they cannot be accommodated because of lack of space or for other reasons. Under these circumstances the lack of storage space on the closed hatch cover is found to be highly disadvantageous.

Additionally, in the aforementioned embodiment the fittings, rollers and other elements must be manufactured and assembled specially so that the construction is rather expensive. Beyond this, the connection of the various elements of the fittings requires special cut outs and mounting preparations in the hatch cover members which further increases the assembly time and accordingly the expend expense involved.

An attempt to overcome these problems has been made by utilizing a roller which serves simultaneously for guiding the lifting rope as well as for supporting the cover members on the hatch coaming. However, because the functions of the roller for supporting the cover members on the hatch coaming on the one hand, and for acting as a'guide roller for the lifting rope on the other hand, necessitate opposite directions of rotation the rope either must slip in the rope groove of the roller or the roller must slide on its guide rail. In either case the wear which necessarily results is greatand the parts involved have very short lifetimes. This, of course, makes this construction unacceptably expensive.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is intended to overcome these disadvantages.

A more particular object of the invention is to provide a closure of the type under discussion wherein the various fittings, including the hinges, rollers and the like, will not project upwardly above the upper major surfaces of the cover members.

An additional object of the invention is to provide such a closure wherein the hinges including all fittings, rollers and the like, utilize simple, uniform and standardizable parts so that the construction and assembly of special parts is avoided and the expense reduced.

Still another object of the invention is to provide such a closure wherein excessive wear on'the components involved is eliminated.

A concomitant object of the invention is to provide such a closure which does not require structural modifications and adjustments.

In pursuance of the above objects, and others which will become apparent hereafter, one feature of our invention recites in the provision of the closure, particularly a hatch closure for ships, boats and the like, wherein wall means such as the deck of the ship is provided with an opening elongated in a predetermined direction. Guide rail means extends along the opening in the predetermined direction. Closure means is provided and includes at least one set of two panels having a combined cross-sectional area at least equal to that of the opening. The panels have juxtaposed spaced first cdge faces extending transversely of the aforementioned direction and second edge faces which extend the said direction. Finally, the panels have upper major surfaces which face outwardly of the opening.

Additionally, we provide hinge means hingedly connecting the panels and including at least a pair of proximal pins each provided on a second edge face on one of the panels adjacent the respective first edge face and projecting transversely of the aforementioned direction to the guide rail means. A first roller and a smaller-diameter second roller are freely rotatably mounted on each of the pins with the respective first rollers rollingly engaging the guide rail means and with all of the rollers extending at most to the general plane of the major surfaces. At least one connecting lug connect the pins so as to maintain the first edge faces of the panels spaced from one another. Pulley means is located upwardly of the opening spaced therefrom in the predetermined direction and rope means is convoluted about the pulley means and is trained around below that one of the second rollers which is closer to the pulley means and around and above that one of the second rollers which is farther from the pulley means. The rope means is fast with the panel associated with the last-mentioned second roller.

Instead of one lug we may provide two lugs which are located at opposite axial ends of the pairs of first and second rollers and in this case those end portions of the two lugs which face towards the pulley means will be connected with a connecting portion which constitutes an abutment in connection with a stop portion provided on one of the cover panels and operative when the cover panels are erected into open position.

The respective first rollers may be provided in form of two discs which are axially spaced and between which the respective second roller is freely rotatably located with the discs engaging the guide rail means and the second roller being turnable with respect to the pin as well as to the respective discs.

Any to two sets of panels are connected by articulating means including elongated plate engaging bolts provided in the upper second edge regions of the side faces of the adjacent panels of the two sets, with a running roller or contact roller being disposed below each such bolt and engaging the guide rail means;

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims.

The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a fragmentary diagrammatic illustration of an embodiment according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic side view of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 but illustrating the panels in erected or upright condition;

FIG. 4 is a view seen from the left-hand side of FIGS. 1 and FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 but illustrating a different embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic illustration of a closure according to the present invention in the closed position; and

FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic illustration showing the closure in FIG. 6 in open position.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Discussing firstly FIGS. 6 and 7 which illustrate the principle of operation of the closure according to the present invention, it will be seen that a closure of this type comprises a plurality of sets of panels each of which includes two panels respectively identified with reference numerals l and 2. These panels are activated by a lifting rope, which may of course be of fibers, of steel wire or any analogous means but for the purpose of convenience is identified as a rope, which is convoluted about a pulley 11' located upwardly above and longitudinally spaced from one end of the hatch or opening. Pull on the rope I1 exerted in the direction of the arrow associated therewith, first erects that pair of panels 1,2 which is located closest to the pulley 11' from the full-line position to the broken line position shown in FIG. 6. When this particular pair of panels 1,2 has reached the erected folded position shown in FIG. 7 the next-following pair of panels 1,2 will be similarly erected until all panels have been erected and drawn towards that end of the hatch which is closest to the pulley 11' so that all panels form a a package as illustrated in FIG. 7. It will be seen from this FIG. that all panels are located in transversely spaced vertical planes, resting on a guide rail 12 in form of a horizontally extending stack.

Coming now to the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 14 will be seen that we have there shown the hinge connection between two fragmentarily illustrated panels 1,2 of one set. Identical hinge connections are provided on all other sets so that the illustration of one hinge connection will suffice for an understanding of the invention. The panels 1,2 each have juxtaposed spaced first edge-faces extending transversely of the elongation of the hatch opening, and second edge faces which extend in the direction of elongation over the hatch opening. At the adjacent ends of the panels 1,2 that is in the region of the juxtaposed first edge faces thereof, pins 3,4 project laterally from the second edge faces and are am maintained at a predetermined spacing, with the first edge faces being similarly maintained predetermined spacing by the provision of at least one lug 5 having two openings each of which receives a portion of one of the pins 3,4 in known manner. Preferably, however, we provide two such lugs of which the second or inner is identified with reference number numeral 6 in FIG. 2 and which are axially spaced from one another as seen in the direction of elongation of the pins 3 and 4. If, as shown in FIGS. 1-4, two lugs S and 6 are provided, they are connected at their ends facing towards the pulley 11' -which direction is towards the left-hand side of the drawing-by a connecting portion 7 which together with a projection 8 provided on the panel 1 constitutes a stop acting as shown in FIG. 3 when the panels are moved to their erected position.

FIGS. 2 and 4 show that each pine 3,4 supports two rollers which are freely rotatable thereon as well as relative to one another. These rollers are identified with reference numerals 9 and 10. Roller 9 in each case constitutes the running roller which rests on a running or guide rail 12 whereas the roller 10 has a smaller diameter and serves as a rope guide roller. The lifting rope 11 is guided around and below the first roller 10, that is the one closest to the pulley Ill (compare FIG. 6) and subsequently around and above the next-following roller 10.

. Of course, it will then again be trained around and below the first roller 10 of the next-following set of a panels an and subsequently around and above the following roller 10 of the same set. By this expedient pull on the rope 11 in the direction of the arrow pointing towards the left-hand side of the drawing results in forcible upward guiding of the panels 1 and 2 so that the same initially move to the dashed line illustration in FIG. 6 and subsequently to the erect full-line position shown in FIG. 7.

The embodiment shown in FIG. 5 differs somewhat from that of FIGS. 1-4 in that the running roller 9 is here replaced with two disc members 13,14 of which the former has a hub journaled on the associated pin. The disc members 13, 14 are axially spaced and a roller 10 is journaled between them for free turning movement relative to them as well as to the pin 3 or 4. Of course, whereas in FIG. 5 the roller 10 is shown journaled on the hub portion associated with the disc member 13 the hub portion itself could conceivably also be eliminated and the roller 10 would then be directly journaled on the pin 3 or 4. The hub portion associated with disc member 13 is identified with reference numeral 15.

As clearly shown in the drawing, particularly FIGS. 2,4 and 5, the lugs 5 and 6 together constitute in effect an elongated casing penetrated by the two pins 3,4. This results in the provision of a hingelike double joint and the rollers 9,10 (or 13/14,10 in FIG. 5) can rotate freely relative to each other within the confines of thiscasing. The dimensional proportions of the elements of the fittings are so matched to the thickness of the panels that not part of the rollers or any other portion of the fittings will project upwardly above the general plane of the major surfaces of the panels 1 and 2 when the closure is located in the position shown in FIG. 6. This results in a completely smooth surface of the closure in closed position. Where a hatch has great length, hatch closures may be disposed symmetrically at both sides of the hatch. The points of contact and the guides for the ropes aredisposed in known manner, namely in separate devices for folding together the hatch closure parts and for pulling them into erected position. It should pointed out, however, that it is also possible to use a continuous rope for effecting movement of the panels between their closed and open positions.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together, may also find a useful application in other types of constructions differing from the types described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in a closure, particularly a hatch closure for use on ships and boats, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

We claim:

1. A closure, particularly a hatch closure for ships, comprising in combination, wall means provided with an opening en elongated in a predetermined direction; guide rail means extending along said opening in said predetermined direction; closure means, including at least one set of two panels, having a combined cross-sectional area at least equal to that of said opening, said panels having juxtaposed spaced first edge faces extending ran transversely of said direction, second edge faces extending in said direction, and major surfaces facing outwardly of said opening; hinge means hingedly connecting said panels, including at least a pair of proximal pins each provided on a second edge face of one of said panels adjacent the respective first edge face and projecting transversely of said direction to said guide rail means, a first roller and a smallerdiameter second roller freely rotatably mounted on each of said pins with the respective first rollers rollingly engaging said guide rail means and with all of said rollers extending at most to the general plane of said major surfaces, and at least one connecting lug connecting said pins so as to maintain said first edge faces spaced from one another; pulley means located up wardly of said opening spaced therefrom in said predetermined direction; and rope means convoluted about said pulley means and trained around below that one of said second rollers which is closer to said pulley means, and around above that one of said second rollers which is farther from said pulley means. said rope means being fast with the panel associated with the last-mentioned second roller.

2. A closure as defined in claim 1; further comprising an additional connecting lug also connecting said pins, said lugs extending in parallelism with one another and being located at opposite axial sides of the first and second rollers mounted on the respective pins.

3. A closure as defined in claim 2; further comprising a connecting portion connecting said lugs at the ends thereof which are closest to said pulley means; and a projection provided on that one of said panels closest to said pulley means, so that said projection and said connecting portion together constitute an abutment arrangement limiting movement of said panels in response to pull exerted on said rope means.

4. A closure as defined in claim 1, the associated first and second rollers being located axially proximal to one another on the respective pins.

5. A closure as defined in claim 1, said first rollers each being constituted by two disc members rotatably mounted on the respective pin axially spaced from one another, and the respective second rollers each being freely turnably mounted on the associated pin located intermediate and rotatable relative to the two associated disc members.

6. A closure as defined in claim 1, said first and second rollers being freely independently rotatable relative to the respective associated pin and to one another.

7. A closure as defined in claim 1, and further comprising means preventingsaid rollers from separating from the respectively associated pins.

8. A closure as defined in claim 1; further comprising at least one additional set of two panels similar to the first-mentioned set and additional hinge means associated with said additional set and similar to the first-mentioned hinge means, said rope means also being trained around the second rollers ofsaid additional hinge means.

9. A closure as defined in claim 8; further comprising articulating means articulately connecting said sets of panels with one another.

10. A closure as defined in claim 9. said articulating means including a pair of bolts projecting from the second edge faces of such panels of said sets which are proximal to one another. below the upper major surfaces thereof, and an elongated connecting plate journaled at opposite ends on said bolts; and

further comprising a pair of rollers each provided below one of said bolts and adapted to engage said guide rail means. 

1. A closure, particularly a hatch closure for ships, comprising in combination, wall means provided with an opening en elongated in a predetermined direction; guide rail means extending along said opening in said predetermined direction; closure means, including at least one set of two panels, having a combined cross-sectional area at least equal to that of said opening, said panels having juxtaposed spaced first edge faces extending ran transversely of said direction, second edge faces extending in said direction, and major surfaces facing outwardly of said opening; hinge means hingedly connecting said panels, including at least a pair of proximal pins each provided on a second edge face of one of said panels adjacent the respective first edge face and projecting transversely of said direction to said guide rail means, a first roller and a smaller-diameter second roller freely rotatably mounted on each of said pins with the respective first rollers rollingly engaging said guide rail means and with all of said rollers extending at most to the general plane of said major surfaces, and at least one connecting lug connecting said pins so as to maintain said first edge faces spaced from one another; pulley means located upwardly of said opening spaced therefrom in said predetermined direction; and rope means convoluted about said pulley means and trained around below that one of said second rollers which is closer to said pulley means, and around above that one of said second rollers which is farther from said pulley means, said rope means being fast with the panel associated with the last-mentioned second roller.
 2. A closure as defined in claim 1; further comprising an additional connecting lug also connecting said pins, said lugs extending in parallelism with one another and being located at opposite axial sides of the first and second rollers mounted on the respective pins.
 3. A closure as defined in claim 2; further comprising a connecting portion connecting said lugs at the ends thereof which are closest to said pulley means; and a projection provided on that one of said panels closest to said pulley means, so that said projection and said connecting portion together constitute an abutment arrangement limiting movement of said panels in response to pull exerted on said rope means.
 4. A closure as defined in claim 1, the associated first and second rollers being located axially proximal to one another on the respective pins.
 5. A closure as defined in claim 1, said first rollers each being constituted by two disc members rotatably mounted on the respective pin axially spaced from one another, and the respective second rollers each being freely turnably mounted on the associated pin located intermediate and rotatable relative to the two associated disc members.
 6. A closure as defined in claim 1, said first and second rollers being freely independently rotatable relative to the respective associated pin and to one another.
 7. A closure as defined in claim 1, and further comprising means preventing said rollers from separating from the respectively associated pins.
 8. A closure as defined in claim 1; further comprising at least one additional set of two panels similar to the first-mentioned set and additional hinge means associated with said additional set and similar to the first-mentioned hinge means, said rope means also being trained around the second rollers of said additional hinge means.
 9. A closure as defined in claim 8; further comprising articulating means articulately connecting said sets of panels with one another.
 10. A closure as defined in claim 9, said articulating means including a pair of bolts projecting from the second edge faces of such panels of said sets which are proximal to one another, below the upper major surfaces thereof, and an elongated connecting plate journaled at opposite ends on said bolts; and further comprising a pair of rollers each provided below one of said bolts and adapted to engage said guide rail means. 